Thursday, 14 March 2013

Tests

14/03/13

The first test has come and gone with an entertaining
draw. England were awful for a day then
got back on track and without dominating were comfortable thereafter. Jimmy got in the wickets, Cook got his
customary ton and Compton eased personal pressure with his maiden test
century. It’s now nearly lunch on the
second day of the second test with England a bit wobbly on 340-5 but still in
control of the match. Compton scored
another hundred and this time Trott got to three figures. The KPego is currently in the 60’s and I may
well tune the radio in when I drift off to sleep. I expect England to bat for most of the day
then dominate the match but it might not be easy to bowl the Kiwis out twice.

I re-read Phillip
Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy recently. Almost a decade must have passed since the
first time I enjoyed this epic series. I
really enjoyed it back then and knew that one day I’d pick it up again. Part one, “Northern
Lights”, starts slowly but gathers pace and by the end it’s ripping
along. Before you know it you are well
stuck into “The Subtle Knife”, the
single narrative has branched out into unexpected directions. Whenever I re-read a novel I always notice
things that weren’t apparent before which enriches the story all the more so. By the midpoint of the trilogy this is most
certainly the case. “Lyra and her Daemon…”
find themselves on a journey which takes her to places beyond her
imagination. Along the way she meets “Will”
and the two faces ordeal and terror. As
the story moves into the second half it becomes deeper and darker and in places
“The Amber Spyglass” is very
bleak. Pullman covers all manner of
themes; Science, racism, climate change, friendship, love and so on, not much
is left untouched upon. This book takes
a huge swipe at religion (Catholicism?) and the book was infamous for this at
the time.

For some reason I didn’t enjoy the second half of the story
as much as the first this time around.
This time it just wasn’t as emotional as it had been before. Because I mostly remembered what happened the
highs weren’t as high and the lows weren’t as low. That said it’s still a fabulous book that you
just have to read, it won’t end how you think either.